


The Sky is Calling

by Recycling



Category: Wolf 359 (Radio)
Genre: Explicit Language, F/F, F/M, Mild canon divergence, takes off from episodes 51-52
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-28
Updated: 2017-12-23
Packaged: 2018-12-20 21:06:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,993
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11929263
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Recycling/pseuds/Recycling
Summary: As the Hephaestus crew tries to stay alive and decipher the messages from the Dear Listeners, there are people on earth who haven't entirely forgotten about them.  Minkowski's messages might not have been in vain after all.





	1. Albuquerque, July 2016

The knock was so soft on the door she almost didn’t hear it. The knob turned slowly as she continued to stare at the test she was grading.

“Professor Taussky?” The voice was soft as a head appeared through the crack in the door. 

“I’m sorry, but as I mentioned in class, I will not be discussing test grades with anyone until Thursday.” Her voice was terse as she frowned and marked the paper in front of her.

“I’m…” the man hesitated halfway through the door. “I wanted to see you about something else.”

She looked up then, forehead smoothing as she stared at him. 

“Oh, you’re not one of my students. Come in.” Shuffling the papers on her desk, she motioned him towards a chair.

“No, I'm not.” He took the seat nervously, legs bouncing. “I wanted to see you about one of your inventions.”

“You know,” she leaned forward on her folded hands, “It is really much more polite to make an appointment Mr…”

“Koudelka. Dominik Koudelka. I’m a reporter.” He leaned forward on the desk, eyes intent. 

“Alright then, Mr.-Koudelka-the-reporter, what do you want with one of my patents? I know the latest signal extenders have been getting a lot of attention, but those are really just improvements on old technology...” 

“No, not those. I want to talk to you about how you invented technology that allows for instant communication across interstellar distances.”

Sighing, the professor stood and up and went to the door. Koudelka fiddled with the thumb drive in his hand. The lock clicked. Before he registered the noise, she grabbed the arms of his chair and leaned in.

“Did Goddard send you?.” Her voice was low and even. “Are they seeing what I’ll say? Is this Cutter’s idea of a sick joke? Or is Pryce up to her old games?”

“Nobody sent me. My wife died in the _Adventurer_ shuttle explosion.”

“Even if I believe that... _Adventurer_ was a Goddard mission.” She released the his chair and sank back into her own. Her right hand covered her eyes as she rubbed her temples. “They’ll kill anyone who’s an inconvenience.”

“I know it sounds ridiculous but I got this message that sounded like my wife. Please, if you’ll just listen.” He slid the thumb drive across the desk.

She let it sit there and kept rubbing her head. “How did you track me down?”

“My colleague got a phone call, from someone claiming to be my wife.”

“Was it?”

“The call ended before I could talk to her, but I did get the number. 772-257-4501. Not a number that exists anymore. But, the internet has one record of it.”

Her hand dropped away from her face. 

“And where was that record?” 

His mouth turned upwards. 

“The resume of one job seeker named Eloise Taussky, Bachelor’s of Engineering expected in 2003, stellar GPA, internship experiences…”

“I see.” She picked up the drive. “One old resume floating around online was enough to convince you that I could, what, build communication devices?” 

“No, I still had to convince myself.” He bounced up and down in the chair. “I traced a very, very faint trail of a career. Graduate school, government contract work, a long, blank period, and then boom, full blown professor on the tenure track.” 

She was silent, but her eyebrows raised as she leaned back in her chair.

“The only other thing I found was a patent filing from one E. Tanner, in conjunction with Goddard Futuristics, for a long range communication device. It was never put through the system, but the initials matched.”

“A set of matching initials and an old phone number led you to me?” She opened a laptop on the desk and inserted the drive.

“And I didn’t have anything to lose.”

“Nice story.” She continued to stare at the screen as she logged in and opened the folders. “What makes you think that’s believable? Goddard wipes almost everything. How do I know you’re not a plant from them?”

“Look at the file named Renée? Please?”

The light from the laptop flickered as she tapped her fingers on her chin. The file contained a neatly labeled and organized life story. _High school graduation pictures. 1 year anniversary pictures. Wedding announcement. Wedding pictures. Honeymoon pictures._ She reached the last one, _Adventurer explosion_. 

“Did you know where _Adventurer_ crew was headed?” She navigated to the file named _Transmission: February 3 2015_. 

“No. They kept it from the public, they kept it from us, we only knew it was deep space.”

The audio file started. Filled with static, only a few words were distinguishable.

_All right….outgoing space... U.S.S. Hephaestus Station to Ear… Wolf 359 is much… orbital cycle is only… what time?_

She hit the space bar. 

“Holy shit.” She leaned back into her chair and covered her face. Fingers trembling, she spoke through her hands. “You’re sure this is your wife? And that she was alive years after the explosion?”

“I’ve never been more sure of anything in my life. That’s her, she’s alive. Or, she was.” Koudelka shrank into his seat, still.

“And just what are you asking me? What is the point of all of this?” Taussky removed the thumb drive and slid it across the desk. 

“Well, I need access to something that will allow me to contact them again, some kind of long range communications de...”

“Pulse beacon relay.” She interrupted him and slammed the laptop shut. “It’s called a pulse beacon relay.” 

“Great!” He pocketed the drive. “You’ll do it? You can get one.”

“No.” She stood abruptly stood up and closed the blinds. “No, my tech belonged to Goddard, they have it all. They cut me off when I bailed.” 

“So there’s no way we can contact them.”

“How far in are you?” She briefly peaked outside the door before closing it and dragging a file cabinet to block it. 

“What?”

“How much do you want to do this?” She grabbed a few binders off a a bookcase. “You can walk away right now, move on, pretend this never happened. Build a new life, away from all this...”

The binders fell on the desk with a thump. 

“I can’t. This is my wife. If there’s even a chance she’s alive…”

“You’ve gotta take it.” 

“Exactly.”

“Alright then.” Taussky plopped into her chair and started flipping through the binders. “This is gonna be dangerous, illegal, and difficult. And if Goddard finds out, that’s both of our careers, if not lives.” 

“I’m in, I’m all in, I’ll do whatever you need me to do.”

“Ok.” Her fingers scanned down the page. “First we’ll need to work on getting the materials. The mechanical parts are easy enough to find or make. But some of the purified rare earths are harder to get without being noticed…”

“Wait.” Koudelka put his hand on the page she was reading. “Are you sure about being in on this? Is it worth the risk to you?”

“Any single chance I have to fuck over Goddard is a chance _I've_ got to take.”


	2. Hephaestus, Day 1167

“Look, I’m not trying to be a Debbie Downer here captain, but should we be spending _this_ much time on the _Urania_ repairs?”

“Eiffel, I appreciate the concern..” Captain Lovelace was interrupted by a spark in the computer system. “Ow! Dammit.”

She shook her hand and rummaged through a toolbox for the electrical tape.

“I feel like there was a ‘but’ at the end of that thought.” The comms officer cautiously backed up from the console. 

“...But the great alien overlords, don’t seem to want to give us any more information on their plans, so we might as well proceed with our own.”

“But won’t they just, I don’t know, send a nice meteor shower to destroy the engine? Or make one of us...” He trailed off, realizing what he was about to say.

“Go crazy again and sabotage our own equipment?” Her voice was edged and Eiffel knew he had gone too far.

“Well, yeah, maybe?” He answered lamely.

“What,” Lovelace bit the tape and tore it, “do you expect us to do? The _Hephaestus_ is running relatively smoothly, for once. We can’t make any progress with our star buddies, and the prisoners are behaving themselves, for the time being.”

“Captain.” Eiffel crouched down and waited until Lovelace looked back at him. “Is keeping busy really worth losing our only way back home?”

Lovelace threw the tape roll back at the toolbox and extricated herself from the console wires. 

“We know now, Eiffel.” Her back was to him, voice beyond exhausted. “More importantly, they know that we know.”

“Alright, Master Yoda-lace, what’s that supposed to mean?”

Sighing, she turned to face him, arms crossed. 

“We know they want something from us. We know there’s hoops to jump through even if we can’t see them yet. We know that we can’t leave until their demands are satisfied and their conditions are met.”

She turned to the console and began to type, her eyes transfixed on the screen. 

“And that, Eiffel, is why they won’t destroy the ship, even if we happen to get it back to a relative level of function. We have something they want, and I don’t think they’ll take the one thing we all want.” 

“Captain, I… I’m sorry.” Eiffel’s voice shrank in on itself. 

“Do you ever think what’s left for us down there?” She turned to look at him. “If anyone still remembers us? That anyone back home could…” 

Lovelace was interrupted by a chime from the comms line.

“Uuuuuhhhh…” Minkowski’s voice came through high and tinny. “Captain. Eiffel. Could you two get back here as soon as humanly possible? We’ve got a situation.” 

“We’re on our way Minkowski.” Lovelace grabbed the toolbox. “What’s the problem?”

Minkowski’s voice was punctuated with radio silence. “Radiation flare...Hera says…life support not hit...but need to adjust…” 

Eiffel sighed as the pair made their way to the airlock. “Sounds like we’re back on the good ol’ crisis-of-the-day schedule!” 

~

“So,” Hera’s voice floated through the comm room, “It looks like the biggest hit was to our comms lines, next biggest was to my sensors. I can’t access the observatory or the personnel quarters. And some of the storage rooms are gone too.” 

Minkowski drummed her fingers on the comms console. “And we can’t get the relays repaired without the three of us on opposite ends of the ship.”

“If anyone knows about some super-secret-but-still-functioning mobile comms hidden somewhere on the station… now would be a great time to mention it.” Hera’s suggestion sounded helpful, but Eiffel shrunk back from the group.

“If anyone has super-secret walkie talkies,” Lovelace said sarcastically. “That person would probably be the ship’s communications officer. Don’t you think?” 

“You’d, uh,” Eiffel opened a drawer in the console and began rifling through it, “You’d like to think that now wouldn’t you!” 

“Seriously Eiffel?” Minkowski rubbed her forehead. “Backup comms are standard issue.”

“I know!” Eiffel pulled at his hair as he opened the fourth drawer. “But we’ve never needed them before and… aha!”

His exclamation was accompanied by the appearance of a pair of ancient, antennaed walkie-talkies. One antenna was connected only by a few tarnished wires.

“Here, catch.” Eiffel tossed one to Minkowski and spoke into his own. “Ground control to Major Tom.”

“Nope.” She tossed it back to him. “Any other brilliant ideas?”

“Actually,” Lovelace said smugly, “I think I might have one.”

~

“For the record,” Jacobi said, “I’m pretty sure this qualifies as cruel and unusual punishment.”

“You’re concerns have been noted.” Lovelace replied as she pulled his arms behind him and attached the handcuffs to the observatory railing.

~

“You realize,” Kepler drawled, “We wouldn’t even be in this position if the crew of this ship had the basic competence necessary to perform their jobs.”

“Hey, can it!” Eiffel snapped as he paced down to the end of the hallway. 

“There.” Minkowski finished securing the Colonel to the locked door. “You won’t be going anywhere soon.”

“But I had such plans for a tropical vacation.” Kepler’s smirk was audible. 

Exasperated, Minkowski turned towards Eiffel and nodded. 

“Hey Cap’n! You read us?” 

Lovelace’s voice drifted back through the corridor. “Loud and clear!”

“Alright,” Minkowski turned back to the prisoner, “You are to stay here. You and Jacobi are going to relay messages to us so we can get the comms back on line. You are not to try anything funny, or things will start to get even more unpleasant for you.”

“What? No jokes? That’s so unlike you, Lieutenant.”

“Can it, Kepler.” 

~

“Jacobi,” Lovelace said from where she was splicing a section of wire on one of Hera’s sensors. “Tell Minkowski to go ahead and start up line delta-gamma.”

“WHAT?” Jacobi called back.

“MINKOWSKI.” Lovelace tried again as he twisted the wires. “START LINE DELTA-GAMMA.”

Jacobi’s voice echoed through the ship. “STOP LINE DELTA-GAMMA.”

“Do you want to end today with all of your limbs, Jacobi?” Lovelace’s voice dropped in volume.

“WAIT!” Jacobi shouted. “MINKOWSKI! THE CAPTAIN SAYS TO START LINE DELTA-GAMMA. START.”

The light on the relay signal blinked back to life.

“That’s more like it.” Lovelace smiled and twisted the wire protectors back into place.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay in posting this chapter! As always, I'd appreciate any and all comments; if you notice something ooc or super off of canon, give me a shout! Thanks for reading :)


	3. Greenbelt, November 2016

“Shit!” Taussky swerved, narrowly avoiding the oncoming car. “Freaking east coast drivers.” 

She was almost there. Taking a deep breath, she wiped her hands on her pants. Her sweat was making her grip on the steering wheel tenuous. 

“Time to make the call,” glancing down, she unlocked her phone, “Don’t lose your nerve now, Taussky.”

Her fingers dialed the number automatically. Shaking slightly, she tapped the _speaker_ button and placed it on the dashboard.

“Goddard Futuristics,” the female voice on the other end sounded a little _too_ chipper, “How may I direct your call?”

“I’m calling for Marcus Cutter, can you put me through to his office please?” 

_This number should have gone directly to Cutter, what the hell is happening?_

“I’m sorry, but Mr. Cutter is out at the moment, and will not be available for some time. Is there someone else I can connect you too?”

_Shit. Shit. Shit._

She tapped her fingers on the steering wheel. 

“Is Rachel Young in?”

“No, she’s also out.”

Gritting her teeth, Taussky tried again.

“Is…” she swallowed hard, “Is Dr. Pryce in?”

_Anyone but her, please, anyone but her._

“No. I’m sorry, what did you say your name was again?” The voice was getting tense and Taussky knew she was on thin ice.

_At least Miranda wasn’t there._

“Eloi...Eleanor Tanner.” 

“And why, exactly, are you calling today Ms. Tanner?”

“Dr. Tanner,” her reply was automatic and she flinched, “One more person, is David Clark there?” 

“Hmmm…” Punctuated keyboard taps came through the phone, “Yes, it looks like Mr. Clark _is_ in. I’ll put you through.”

“Thank you.” Taussky felt like she was going to puke.

“Hello? This is David Clark speaking.”

“David!” She tried to put a realistic amount of enthusiasm in her voice, “This is Tanner. I’m so glad I caught you, I have a huge favor to ask.”

“If you want your job back, I think we could start you as soon as next Monday. Pushing the paperwork takes a bit of time, but we could make it work.” 

She laughed nervously.

“No, nothing like that I’m afraid.”

“Academia suiting you a little too well?” 

“Yes, you know, shaping the next generation and all that.”

“Mmm, of course, of course. Well, if it isn’t job related, what can I do for you today?”

“I need to access some of my old notes, if possible. I’m working on developing,” she took a deep breath, readying herself for the lie, “A new portable wireless hotspot device, for deployment in areas without reliable network access. I’d started theorizing about it at Goddard, and I think I have some schematics…”

“You know that your work became our property when you left, I’m not sure I can let you do that.” His voice sounded amused. That annoyed her.

“I know, I know, and if I can actually develop it, I’d be more than happy to bring it to Goddard for shared patents and all that, it’s just… a research itch I haven’t been able to scratch.”

“Well, we might be able to draw up a quick NDA, let me see what I can do.”

“Thank you David, I really appreciate it.” She slumped in her seat as she flipped on her blinker and navigated to her exit. 

“No problem Eleanor, I’m always happy to help out an old friend. Is this a good number to reach you at?”

“Thanks, yeah, this number is fine.”

“I’ll be in touch.”

The line disconnected. She barely had time to stop the car and open the door before she vomited. 

~

Taussky was sitting in her hotel room, staring at the wall and waiting for the cell phone in her hand to ring.

_“Do you really have to go? You said we’re getting close to getting the system operational. What’s so important that you have to travel right now?”_

_“Look, Koudelka, when I said I can’t explain it, I mean that I can’t explain it. Trust me when I say this is important.”_

_“But what if something happens?” He had looked so desperate, she felt bad for him._

_“Like what? I already said, if Goddard knows something about what we’re doing, they probably would have already gotten to us by now.” That was a nice lie. But, she argued with herself, it was what he needed to hear._

_“What if there’s some freak accident and you die or can’t get back to complete the relay build? What then? I just have to live without answers? Can’t we just finish this out before you go?”_

_Her voice turned icy._

_“Some of us don’t get the luxury of answers, Mr. Koudelka. I said I would do my best to help you, but it’s going to happen on my terms.”_

_She had slammed the door in his face then. That was the last they had talked before she left._

She felt a little guilty about it now. Maybe she should have explained everything to him. 

_Knowing would only put him in more danger, this was the best course of action._

Part of her couldn’t believe that she was willingly walking back into Goddard, after everything. After all they had…

She jumped as the phone in her hand buzzed with an incoming call. 

“Hello?” She was surprised by the calmness in her voice.

“Hi, Eleanor? Looks like we got a document drawn up to get you some of your old notes. We’ll have to de-classify everything that you need out, of course, but you’ll be able to get what you need.”

“That’s great news, thanks David.”

“Looks like you’re in the area, optimistic, are we?”

She had figured they would be tracking her movements, but hearing the confirmation was startling. 

“Yes. I wanted to get away a bit, so it just seemed logical to head this way. Even if I didn’t get the files, it was a nice getaway.”

“Oh, I’m sure it was,” his voice sounded oily and fake, “Should we expect you this afternoon? Or would tomorrow be better?”

“This afternoon is fine, I’ll be there in about half an hour?”

“Of course. I won’t be able to escort you personally, as I’m very busy today, but I’ll have someone see that you get what you need.”

“Thanks again David.”

“Good luck Eleanor.”

~

She was greeted by someone she didn’t recognize. It was disconcerting, being in such a familiar place with so many new faces. The administrator gave her the forms she needed to sign. 

“This way, if you don’t mind, Dr. Tanner.” 

Each hallway they passed reminded her of something. There was where she had first heard about the interstellar core energy developments. Here was where she had first had an office, before being moved closer to the lab. Here was where she had first met Miranda Pryce, then Marcus Cutter. There was where…

_”Eleanor, why don’t you take a seat in your office, I’ve got some news.” Cutter’s voice had chilled her to the bone._

_“What is it?” She knew, before he even spoke. She knew something had gone terribly wrong._

_“Look, I’m very sorry to inform you, but it seems that something has gone wrong on the Hephaestus mission and…”_

_She hadn’t hear him after that. He had talked for a while, but she couldn't process it. The last thing she remembered from that day was his smile. Cutter’s terrible, horrible smile, as he gave her the news that brought her world crashing down around her ears._

“Here is the record room, your notebooks are kept under GA237-356. You’re welcome to use the scanner and put them on this drive.” Her escort handed her the drive in question and directed her to the section of shelving where her work lived. On the way into the room, she had spied her goal. The computer terminal where the digital records lived should allow her enough access. 

“Thanks. I think I can take it from here, I’ll drop the drive off with the admin on the way out, I wouldn’t want to keep you.”

“Oh, no worries Dr. Tanner, I’ve been instructed to assist you in any way you need, my afternoon belongs to you.”

_Shit._

This entire mission would be for nothing if she couldn’t get onto that computer. 

“Alright, well as long as you’re here, can you start on the GA245 notebook? We’re looking for any mentions of portable network devices.”

“Of course, Dr. Tanner, anything you need.”

~

Two hours later, she had found and scanned enough notes that they shouldn’t be suspicious of her real intent. 

“Well, I think that’s everything from the notebooks, but I think I gave a presentation on some related technology that I might need, can you log me on to that terminal and so I can pull it off of my old records?” 

“Mr. Clark only mentioned that you needed access to the physical records, so I don’t think I’ll be able to do that without asking him first.”

“Really? I didn’t specify the physical copies, and I don’t think I’ll be able to get very far without that presentation.”

“I’ll put in a call to Mr. Clark and see if I can get you access.”

“Look, I need to get out of here soon, and he’s really busy, can’t you just log in for me? Plus, they’ve got to release everything before I get it anyway, so if I’m not supposed to have it, they can just delete it then.”

She could see the internal debate wage across her escort’s face. 

“Fine, I’ll log you in, but we should make this quick.” 

“Thanks, I really appreciate it.”

Maneuvering so that her hands were shielded from view, she plugged in her own drive and started searching through the files her name was attached to. 

“Oh shoot, I think the name of the cross referenced file is in one of the notebooks, could you try grabbing 286 through 294?” 

“Of course.” The escort’s patience was wearing thin. 

Once she was sure no human eye was looking, she started a transfer of the incriminating files onto her personal drive. 

_Transfer. Transfer. Please transfer._

A “transfer complete” dialogue box popped up. 

_Bingo._

Keeping her hand blocking the ports, she switched out the drives while her sleeve covered her hand, hoping against hope that the security cameras didn’t catch her covert movements. Sliding her drive into her pocket, she breathed a sigh of relief.

“Here are the notebooks you wanted.”

~

The admin had taken back the Goddard drive for a de-classification screening, saying it should be mailed to her in a week or so. She had thanked them warmly, keeping up the facade of genuine scientific interest. So far so good. Her excursion should have bought them enough insurance, for a little while, at least.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, I'm really sorry I took so long to update guys. This semester did a real number on me and I didn't get a chance to write as much as I would have liked (or at all for that matter). I'm back though! Hopefully I'll be finishing this fic out shortly after the season ends. I'm trying to be fairly canon compliant, but I did have some trouble working out the timeline of when things happen on the Hephaestus. The recording scripts have day numbers on them, but they haven’t released any for season four yet, so I’m kinda lost. In future chapters, I'll give some episode numbers so there's an idea of when we are. As always, any feedback is incredibly welcome and appreciated! Thanks so much for reading!

**Author's Note:**

> First fic in ages, please comment with any thoughts. I tried to go through the episode transcripts and create a reasonable timeline/canon compliance, but if you notice any issues, I'd really appreciate a correction. Title from "The Sky is Calling" by Kim Boekbinder, https://soundcloud.com/kimboekbinder.


End file.
